The Progressive Teacher Vol 02 Issue 01

student’s voice
Death by the pressures
of education isn’t an
avoidable situation in
the lives of many adolescents
today. And you can’t deny it,
can you? ‘Students dying’ is a
fairly common pun created for
the term ‘studying’ on social
media today. With cut-offs for
college admissions soaring
higher than the Empire State
Building, are today’s youth
engrossing themselves in the
world of books because of
their individual interests or
have they lost their way in an
unfathomable sea of AIEEE
and CLAT?
Picture this: every morning you
wake up at dawn, only to slog
hours through the day trying
to fathom and mug up the
contents from your prescribed
text books; but what is the point
of rote-learning when you can
Students + Dying = Studying?
–Swasti Acharya, XI-Humanities,
Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar
barely apply it when needed? This is probably
why students will ‘die’ due to studying, if not
physically at least with respect to knowledge
attained. The main reason as to why such
learning and mugging up kills our youth is
because of the stress that builds up, which in
turn burns any enthusiasm the teenager had
in the first place.
We all wish to do things we are interested
in and that make us happy. The same can be
applied to what we study. Exams are around
the corner, and along with them, the scent of
the same pressure of being better than the
best is in the air. Instead, what if we did not
allow ourselves to be engulfed by the smoke
of stress? That’s probably when we would
truly excel, irrespective of getting 100 or
86. Most of us want to do well and we would
want to put in our best effort. If allowed to
pursue something of our choice that we enjoy,
without the duress of a life-threatening ’test’,
no doubt a number of us would come out
with flying colours!
With exam season in full-swing and life
without your text books quite impossible,
I thought I’d share a few practices that will
hopefully add to your benefit.
The academic year is almost over and you
probably never got the chance to ask the
questions you wanted to ask your teacher;
clarify and ask now during your revision classes.
Language structures can be a little difficult
to understand, so try and read passages as
many times as you can to understand them
thoroughly. Then, try and explain them to
someone else in your own words. Once you
feel you have clearly understood a concept
or a topic, it is important to further quiz
yourself on it because it tells you how much
you know, how much you need to work upon,
and where you stand overall.
Not all of us have a photographic memory,
nor can we read and learn at one go.
Therefore, always try to use your strengths to
their maximum potential. If you learn quickly
through visuals, prepare flashcards. Written
information may have little meaning for you
if you learn better through audio. So pay
attention during lectures and resource further
on your topic. When you’re not studying in
situ, prepare Post-It notes with formulae and
keywords and put them on walls/above your
study area, which will help you recall at a
mere glance. All in all, if you’re even slightly
bit better today than you were yesterday, you
have crossed a major hurdle!
Finally, when we are studying a particular
topic, we must not perceive it as studying
for the sake of it. What counts is that we are
acquiring new information. The majority of
us won’t be using Pythagoras’ a 2 +b 2 =c 2 to
solve numericals 10 years from now, but the
real test will be whether we are able to draw
parallels successfully later in life!
So, you’re simply not studying for an
assignment, but you’re really learning
new ways to deal with life!
From the publisher’s desk...
Promoting healthy reading habits…
The recently concluded New Delhi World Book Fair 2015 at New
Delhi attracted over 10 lakh visitors at the show and according
to the statistics available, the number of students and youth
visitors has increased considerably. This is a good sign and shows that
reading is not declining, even though digital invasion has changed
many of our habits.
Publishers have come up with innovative subjects, books and products
to catch the attention of younger generation. I chanced upon a few
educational puzzles, which all come bundled with a book, offering
information on the pictures seen in the puzzles. Also, topics such
as gender equality, cleanliness, gender sensitization, etc have been
effectively explained in children books. These subjects were earlier
a taboo for children books but since children are exposed to various
situations, it is very important to make them understand how to react
in a particular situation and be safe at all
times. Parents are equally concerned about such
subjects and find it easier to explain to their
children through books.
The quality parameters of children’s books are
a notch above the earlier standards. Use of
print enhancement features has added charm to
the printed version. They are a big attraction for
readers of all age groups.
Pleasure reading is important to widen the
thought process of a child and teachers must
encourage it. There are so many books to be read. Let the children
pick up what they wish to read. Ask them to share their thoughts on
what they read. Most of the schools provide newspapers to students,
which is a good move. But, how many children actually read it?
Ask the children to read the newspaper and ask simple questions.
Gradually, they will develop the habit of reading and will understand
that reading is the best pastime.
Happy reading!
58 The Progressive Teacher Mar/Apr 2015